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Little Rock Traffic Problems/Solutions

Started by Tomahawkin, December 19, 2016, 09:51:56 PM

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Tomahawkin

Name them? After going through I-30 south of Little Rock, last Friday, I was expecting a easy ride with 4 lanes of traffic on each side? Especially since AHTD did work on it 10 years ago! Wrong! That area is a cluster #### with no areas to improve with the garbage frontage roads which make it worse. Living in Atlanta, I would advocate elevated toll lanes. That can't be done because there are so many businesses and strip malls near that interstate.

Does anyone have any suggestions about that stretch (from the 30/430 interchange going southwest for 20 miles). The people in office and who ever approved the backwards building through there needs to be ran out of office or fired. AHTD Where you at???


Bobby5280

If I recall correctly, I-30 South of Little Rock (with the frontage roads closely hugging the main lanes) was built upon the old US-70 alignment through already existing business districts. It's not like AHTD could just go wipe away a huge amount of existing development to give I-30 a little more breathing room. The Interstate would probably have to be relocated miles away to the North or South to gain enough space for it to look like some Interstates built on new terrain alignments through areas with little if any development.

Even with that being said, I've seen plenty of other Interstates where the road's 4 or 6 lanes are bunched up tight and separated only by a concrete or cable barrier even with no other development around. There's lots of turnpikes here in Oklahoma like that.

capt.ron

Another tight area is US 67 through Jacksonville. There is currently a project underway to 6 lane US 67 from Redmond Rd to exit 16. A BIG project coming down the pike is probably going to involve relocating frontage roads and tearing out an overpass (James St aka the old 67 alignment) to shoehorn the additional lanes.
But getting back to I-30, it was plopped onto an existing 4 lane divided alignment of US 67-70 from University Ave southwest towards Bryant. I remember when that stretch was a 4 lane with a narrow and dangerous median. 6 lanes is good but I bet the traffic counts will overload that stretch within 5-10 years due to all of the new development on that side of Little Rock / Bryant. The traffic is actually worse once you approach I-630 and north to I-40.

Tomahawkin

@Bobby. From the looks of many of the origional overpasses still in use with little upgrades, That makes sense that the stretch of 1-30 through Bryant was the original US 70. That 6 lane stretch is narrow and a cluster####. I have no idea how they can improve traffic flow in that area because there is little room to expand roads due to poor urban planning in that area. Ditto for US 67 in and north of Jacksonville...

Bobby5280

In the long run AHTD will have to sacrifice one or both frontage roads currently flanking I-30 to create more room. For instance, in Benton, business access from I-30 would be closed off and shifted over to Military Road. A new thoroughfare might have to be parallel to I-30 on the North side. There's no easy or cheap answers. Another alternative, a very costly and controversial one, would be building a new set of elevated lanes over the existing ones.

jlwm

Quote from: Bobby5280 on December 21, 2016, 10:37:33 PM
In the long run AHTD will have to sacrifice one or both frontage roads currently flanking I-30 to create more room. For instance, in Benton, business access from I-30 would be closed off and shifted over to Military Road.

Interstates get widened in Texas all the time without sacrificing frontage roads. I'm looking at the section of I-30 in question on Google Maps and I don't see how it would be any different here.

Bobby5280

#6
Have you looked at the cost of these widening projects in Texas? They all run in the billions of dollars. For example, Katy Freeway in Houston cost $2.8 billion to expand. LBJ Freeway cost $3 billion to upgrade. Both phases of the I-35E Express project between Denton and Dallas will cost $4.8 billion. TX DOT is having to spend billions on the upgrade of I-35 between DFW and Austin.

Arkansas doesn't have quite the giant population and tax base of Texas. The federal government has been doing little as possible in helping states fund Interstate highway improvement projects. Because of this Arkansas will have to be more creative in how it improves I-30 in the Little Rock area.

These big road widening projects in Texas also erased a great deal of existing property. It doesn't seem so consequential to do in a sprawling, giant sized metropolis like Houston or Dallas-Fort Worth. Doing the same thing in that area South of Little Rock would probably be a lot more controversial.



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